Today, I will be analyzing Palamina Corp’s (TSXV:PA) recent ownership structure, an important but not-so-popular subject among individual investors. Ownership structure has been found to have an impact on shareholder returns in both short- and long-term. Differences in ownership structure of companies can have a profound effect on how management’s incentives are aligned with shareholder returns, and whether they adhere to corporate governance best practices. Although this is an important factor for long-term investors, many investors can also be impacted by institutional presence and their high-volume trading. Therefore, I will take a look at PA’s shareholders in more detail.
View our latest analysis for PalaminaInstitutional Ownership
Institutional investors are one of the largest group of market participants and their buy-sell decisions on a company’s stock can significantly impact prices, more so, when there are relatively small amounts of shares available on the market to trade. PA hardly has any institutional ownership, leaving investors little to think about sharp price volatility in the stock that could take place due to institutional trading.Insider Ownership
I find insiders are another important group of stakeholders, who are directly involved in making key decisions related to the use of capital. In essence, insider ownership is more about the alignment of shareholders’ interests with the management. 28.19% ownership of PA insiders is large enough to make an impact on shareholder returns. In general, this level of insider ownership has negatively affected underperforming (consistently low PE ratio) companies and positively affected the companies that outperform (consistently high PE ratio). It’s also interesting to learn what PA insiders have been doing with their shareholdings lately. While insider buying is possibly a sign of a positive outlook for the company, selling doesn’t necessarily indicate a negative outlook as they may be selling to meet personal financial needs.General Public Ownership
The general public holds a substantial 70.86% stake in PA, making it a highly popular stock among retail investors. With this size of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in major company policies that affect shareholders returns, including executive remuneration and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to decline an acquisition or merger that may not improve profitability.Private Company Ownership
Another group of owners that a potential investor in PA should consider are private companies, with a stake of 0.75%. While they invest more often due to strategic interests, an investment can also be driven by capital gains through share price appreciation. However, an ownership of this size may be relatively insignificant, meaning that these shareholders may not have the potential to influence PA’s business strategy. Thus, investors not need worry too much about the consequences of these holdings.What this means for you:
With a low level of institutional ownership, investors in PA need not worry about non-fundamental factors such as ownership structure causing large impact on stock prices. However, ownership structure should not be the only determining factor when you’re building an investment thesis for PA. Instead, you should be evaluating company-specific factors such as Palamina’s past track record and financial health. I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
1. Financial Health: Is PA’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
2. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.